April 11th, 2007
Such a small population, yet almost every school boy and girl has an e-mail account or knows to surf the Internet. It’s depressing to know that the Government is making no efforts in improving the present Information Technology (IT) community and the quality of computer education in Maldives.
Sri Lanka’s University of Peradeniya has made enormous contributions to the development of the Lanka Linux User Group over the last couple of years. Unfortunately, the only thing closest to a university in our country is the Maldives College of Higher Education (MCHE), the Ministry of Education hasn’t made any efforts to develop or improve the IT community either. Computer education cannot be improved only through as a subject in primary and secondary school education, seminars and workshops can be conducted, foreign university lecturers can be brought down to give public lectures, programmes and awareness campaigns can be a tool to further increase the interests of those seeking to develop a career in Information Technology. Private educational institutions are unable to afford franchising many of the professional development courses to Maldives, hence the Government continues to give a blind eye to these problems.
If I am not mistaken, a few years back, the Thalassaemia Society of Maldives launched a campaign called komme kujjakawwes kulheweyne, means ‘every child can play’. The popular football star Ali Umar even modelled for a television commercial with the thalassemia infected children. The Government could hold similar types of campaigns to promote IT in the Maldives, hurihaa emmenawwes kiyeweyne, means ‘everyone can learn’.
Apparently it was the ‘Internet’ that played the biggest role in the democratic transitions in Maldives. Of course we all have enough and more reasons to believe that the current regime fears what the Information Technology could do to them next. This fear usually turns out to be paranoia, and paranoia turns to psychosis, and, in worst cases, dementia. If this fear never turned out to be a psychosis, then the Government wouldn’t have definitely detained Ismail Faiz (PH), DhivehiNet’s senior system engineer on suspicion of terrorism, especially after his family members were informed that he was being held for “theft”. PH had knowledge, he was capable and that made him a threat to what the Government calls National Security.
So as long as our IT community includes knowledgeable and capable people, the chances are slim that the Government will consider improving the IT community. But how far can the government go based on this rationale? How far will they go in the name of national security?
April 10th, 2007
This book is a bridge between two distinct cultures; that of IT professionals responsible for building systems that prevent cybercrime, and law enforcement officials responsible for investigating and prosecuting those crimes. It introduces IT professionals to the highly structured world of law enforcement, where rules of evidence must be followed closely and crime scenes must not be contaminated. It provides law enforcement officers with an understanding of the technical aspects of cybercrime and of how technology can be used to help solve crimes that have been committed.
Download E-Book (5.80 MB)
February 14th, 2007
The cocaine trade of the 70s and 80s had an indelible impact on contemporary Miami. Smugglers and distributors forever changed a once sleepy retirement community into one of the world’s most glamorous hot spots, the epicenter of a $20 billion annual business fed by Colombia’s Medellin cartel. By the early 80s, Miami’s tripled homicide rate had made it the murder capital of the country, for which a Time cover story dubbed the city “Paradise Lost.”
December 2nd, 2006
Here is your opportunity to design a logo for Sri Lanka’s new airline.
Develop a logo that represents the true spirit of a nation rising towards a new future. Create an identity that will symbolize a national effort to rebuild and power the economic progress of Sri Lanka and give life to the vision encapsulated in the “Mahinda Chinthanaya”.
The Government of Sri Lanka invites creative young minds to participate in a nationwide effort to create a unique identity for Sri Lanka’s new airline Mihin Lanka. It will be an opportunity of a lifetime. It will be a proud legacy.
Factors to be considered:
• The concept behind the logo and the colors, lettering, symbols and artwork used should be explained.
• Logo should be done in A4 size and should remain clear even when minimized.
• Logo can be hand drawn or digitally designed.
• All designs will be submitted to a national judging panel of experts and the final designs will become the property of the Government of Sri Lanka.
• The Government of Sri Lanka will reserve all rights to request and effect modifications to the selected logo in consultation with the designer.
• All designs titled “Mihin Lanka” should be addressed to posted/delivered to Triad Advertising (Pvt) Ltd, 53/3, Gregory’s Road, Colombo 07
• The deadline for delivery would be on or before 20th December 2006.
• The winner will be awarded a cash prize of Rs. 100,000/= ($1000) in addition to a return air ticket to Dubai.
October 26th, 2006
SeagullSoftwares.com, a privately owned internet based outsourcing firm turned out to be an internet fraud scheme after turning thousands of its customers defrauded of millions of rupees. Tensions grew outside its head office in Mount Lavinia yesterday, when some fifty members of it crashed the gate and the inside door of the office. The Mount Lavinia police arrived the scene immediately on report of the incident and took away three employees who were working for the company for investigation by the CID.
Mount Lavinia police stated that the operators who ran the scheme have fled the office and they had no idea how many people had joined the scheme. The operators claimed it was a BPO operation. The firm had offices in several other locations in Sri Lanka.
Mohamed Imran, a victim said “I invested 650,000 rupees and I was supposed to get my first payment yesterday”.
Two Indian nationals who were king pins of the scheme are now believed to have fled the country.
Several members of the SeagullSoftwares.com are believed to have developed a website to discuss the issue at www.seagullmembers.com.
Related Information:
How To Avoid Investment Scams That Target Groups
File a Complaint with the U.S. SEC
SeagullSoftwares.com on Lanka Business Online
Domain Information – seagullsoftwares.com
October 18th, 2006
Blogging? You are doing it. Your friends are doing it. Your neighbor is doing it. Academicians are doing it. And now businesses are doing it, too. If you take “Web” and “log,” and put them together, you get a blog. Similarly, if you add ”Maldives” and “log sphere,” together, you get mvblogosphere.
An year ago, when we wanted to read news about Maldives, the first two places we pointed our browsers was Haveeru Daily Online and Dhivehi Observer, but today mvblogosphere has climbed the very list of websites that we look for information about the Maldives. Mvblogosphere tracks over 340 Maldivian blogs and retrieves useful and fresh information more effectively, and many of which directly relates to current affairs and events in Male’ and throughout the Maldives.
The project “mvblogosphere” was initiated by a talented group of individuals involved in the busy Information Technology community in the Maldives. The people behind the success of the project are shahee, senn, inn, simon, jaa and aish.
It originated when Senn (visual artist / network technician) compiled a list of Maldivian blogs which was able to visit from one random point, Shahee (media designer) assessed the developments and then the project commenced. In good spirit and with time worth spent, they acquired techniques to visualize the blogosphere. Simon (programmer) and Inash (developer) evaluated the visualized list including images which was further extended in the development of the modules. These modules generated the “recently updated blog entries page” (automatically detecting the RSS feed addresses and the titles of the blogs from the mvblogosphere database).
It’s hard to narrow down good uses for business blogging because the possibilities are enormous and the technology is relatively new, may not sound too much to get excited in Maldives, but it has gone beyond fad and has become a full-fledged Internet phenomenon.
Get a feel for the community and tools available by visiting popular blog providers Blogger or WordPress.
I think mvblogosphere is very much geared for exposure now, of course many internet users are already aware of it, but there is still room for involvement and participation as an mvblogger. A “tell your friends” page would be great which will allow users to let there friends know about mvblogosphere and benefit from this huge resource. A little competition would be good with a database for all the mvbloggers to log and interact with other members, a forum may not be the perfect choice, however some sort of a ranking similar to the one at mvhackers which will boost the bloggers.
October 18th, 2006
When There’s No More Room in Dhoonidoo, the Parteys Will Roam the Maldives
Just like elsewhere in the world, when the rooster begins to crow at Dawn, the people of Maldives wakes up. By 6am the fishermen emerges in the side-walks of the narrow roads and streets of Male’ heading towards the market hotel for breakfast – by 6:45am the housewives prepare breakfast for their husbands and the children for school, by 7:00am the market traders open their shops. By 7:30am, the CCTV cameras positioned at the President’s Office, and other Government organizations are at work, especially with zooming and panning. These high definition color cameras focus office girls to resolve minute detail, or lock onto a single girl and follow her. Male’, the capital city becomes one wonderful, noisy, exciting place which affects all the senses.
By noon, the disillusioned and the rejected class of men and women wakes up, they are mainly known as parteys (a Maldivian jargon for drug abusers and addicts). Unlike the civilized society in the nation, these people consider one or two cans of Power Gold (energy drink) and a Marlboro cigarette instead of milk, bread, cornflakes and beaten egg for breakfast, and “Pucelle” Eau de Cologne for the parteys in Addu atoll and other outlying islands.
Drug abusers and addicts in Maldives express considerable offense when referred to as a partey by normal people, but not if they are called the same by other drug abusers and addicts. In this case, the term may be seen as a symbol of fraternity, and its use outside a defined social group an unwelcome cultural appropriation.
Partey: The Beginning
On May 18, 2004, the dead body of Mohamed Shiyam was discovered at Fariva Inn, a guest house in the Henveiru ward of Male’. A female friend of Mohamed Shiyam discovered his body in room number 501, at about 11.45pm. Shiyam was from Gaafu Dhaalu Gadhoo, and his address in Male’ was H. Faruma, however for almost a month he resided in Fariva Inn, a guest house in Henveiru
On May 19, 2004, the Police revealed that Shiyam had previous records of drug abuse and that several stolen goods were discovered in the room where Shiyam accommodated at Fariva Inn, and also that he was overdosed and had blood coming from his mouth when he was found.
The following day a number of people gathered at the cemetery for the burial of Mohamed Shiyam and most of them were watching the actions of other young drug addicts who were Shiyam’s friends with surprise and amusement. Many of the addicts posed with the dead Shiyam for photos, as a last remembrance of a life lived on the edge. They were grief-stricken. As the burial ceremony was over one of the young people even suggested taking away the body of Shiyam. “Why don’t we take Partey with us?” he asked. The police stood guard at the cemetery on the night of 19 May because Shiyam’s friends might raid the grave to take him away. After the funeral, the police stood in uniform watching as the group made their way out of the cemetery.
Many of Shiyam’s friends who were at his funeral thought he did not die of an overdose but was killed by a rival group. They said they had passed on the names of the suspects to the police. Their story may not be true as many of them were intoxicated and high even when they attended Shiyam’s funeral.
Where is the Government?
As the government fails to tackle the issue, many people are taking a hostile approach towards drug addicts. Drug abuse is also a major problem in some of the islands. Monitoring is not done efficiently in such islands, and there are several young girls and boys who are consuming drugs. Many addicts use the large empty land in Hulhumale’ as a safe haven. The newly settled families there are afraid of what they may have to face in the sparsely populated island.
A government that receives considerable income through import tax and tourism, among several other sources, fail to allocate funds to address a problem that is tearing the society apart. This is especially true, as the very same government can afford to spend millions for military, the defense budget and for the luxurious lifestyle of its rulers. Shiyam may be dead and buried but the social problems that led to his death at a young age are still very much alive and searching for other victims.
Social Response
People in Maldives crave for opportunities to beat a partey till his clothes are torn. Each and every time the people punch and kick him, they all assume striking a blow for divine justice. When parteys get caught for stealing among large crowds, he becomes the centre of attention. People passing by would stop to focus on what’s attracting the crowd, and then the amusement begins. People would rip the parteys clothes and photograph him naked on public roads. After the maximum is been done by the people to punish the thief, arrives justice, the policemen to investigate the crime.
On the other hand, many parents send their children who are drug addicts to foreign countries, mainly to avoid having them detained at Dhoonidhoo jail. Most common choice for such parents is Sri Lanka, the parteys would arrive with their parents and they would be with him or her until he or she gets enrolled at a college and obtains a one year visa. Once the parents leave, the partey would make his or her first move in making friends, three-wheel drivers, the most direct source to locate cocaine dealers. By the time the partey completes his or her first year in Sri Lanka, the most likely place to locate him or her is a Sri Lankan jail, for failing to renew the student visa. How can one attend the Department of Immigration and Emigration when he or she is most of the time intoxicated due to excessive use of narcotics?
October 14th, 2006
Twenty three years passed and the feud still remains between the legendary metal bands, Metallica and Megadeth.
In the recent Gigantour 2006 at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, Dave Mustaine, the main man of Megadeth shocked the spectators when he played some herky jerky riffs that sounded very half-hearted. The strangled notes were a mangled ‘Mechanix’. Mustaine then worked his way to the microphone and said, “that’s how THEY play it and this is how WE play it’ Megadeth then tore a blazing rendition of ‘Mechanix’.
“Mechanix” was original version of “The Four Horsemen”, the Metallica song that was co-written by Mustaine. Metallica then wrote new lyrics and renamed the song as “The Four Horsemen” after Mustaine was kicked out of the band in 1983. The track “Mechanix” later appeared on Megadeth’s debut album, “Killing Is My Business…and Business Is Good” (1985).
The two bands are preparing to launch there new albums next year, Megadeth with “United Abominations” in early 2007 and on February 16, 2006, Metallica announced on their official website that they are currently working on a brand-new, full-length studio album which is expected to be released sometime in 2007, not specific release date is announced yet.
In my opinion I think music wise Megadeth is better than Metallica, except for Mustaine’s “Ogre voice” which is pretty much irritating at times, on the other hand Metallica’s main man; James Hetfield’s voice is often discordant and aggressive, I also think his voice sounded better after the black album on the Loads and S&M. If we compare the golden years of both the bands, “Rust In Peace” for Megadeth and “Master Of Puppets” for Metallica, but I enjoy both the bands and they have released wonderful albums of real thrash through out the years.
Either way, Megadeth and Metallica both are responsible for almost all of the great new metal bands out today, but then again I always prefer Metallica.
October 12th, 2006
Windows Vista will have new anti-piracy technology that locks people out their PCs if the operating system isn’t activated within 30 days after installation.
If Vista is not activated with a legitimate product registration key in time, the system will run in “reduced functionality mode” until it is activated, said Thomas Lindeman, a senior product manager at Microsoft. In this mode, people will be able to use a Web browser for up to an hour, after which time the system will log them out, he said.
The new technology is part of Microsoft’s new “Software Protection Platform,” which the company plans to announce on Wednesday. It will be part of future versions of all Microsoft products, but debuts in Windows Vista and Windows Server “Longhorn,” said Cori Hartje, director of Microsoft’s Windows Genuine Software Initiative. Vista, the successor to Windows XP, is slated to be broadly available in January.
Microsoft has escalated its battle with software pirates during the past two years through the “Genuine Advantage” add-ons for Windows and Office, its biggest cash cows. The company is now expanding its push by baking anti-piracy features into its new products and taking more drastic action when it finds that a product was illegitimately acquired.
Many users shouldn’t be confronted by Vista’s anti-piracy technology, however. People who buy a PC with Vista installed from companies such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Gateway, for example, should find the operating system activated already.
“Everything is going to be good to go right out of the box,” Hartje said. “This is more for those who install after the fact.”
Those who install Vista themselves, for example on existing PCs, will have a 30-day period to activate the operating system and validate with Microsoft that they have a legitimate license. “During those 30 days, you get warning messages, it counts down. During the last three days they get very frequent,” Lindeman said.
If ignored, after 30 days Vista will display four options. The first will allow the user to activate online, the second is to run in reduced functionality mode, the third is to enter a product key and the fourth displays instructions to activate by phone, Lindeman said.
“In reduced functionality mode, we will let you use your browser for periods of up to an hour before we log you off,” Lindeman said.
Barring people from using their PC is a significant change from the anti-piracy features that Microsoft bolted on to Windows XP with Windows Genuine Advantage. In XP, the piracy-busting features only put a block on downloading additional programs from Microsoft’s websites.
“Piracy is one of the most significant problems facing the software industry,” Hartje said. More than a third of all software installed last year was pirated or unlicensed, she said, citing figures from the Business Software Alliance, a software industry group.
Microsoft will continue to check if Vista was legitimately acquired, even after activation. This happens, for example, when downloading additional Microsoft programs. Should a license key be deemed illegitimate, the user will be given another 30-day grace period to acquire a legitimate license key, Microsoft said.
During this grace period warnings will be displayed and Vista will block access to the Windows Defender anti-spyware tool, ReadyBoost memory expansion feature and Aero advanced graphics option, Microsoft said. Also, a persistent text will display in the lower right hand of the screen: “This copy of Windows is not genuine.”
If Vista is not validated after the 30 days, the user will again be locked out.
As part of the increased effort to make it harder to pirate its products, Microsoft is also changing the way businesses license its software. New licensing systems will replace the current volume license keys, which have been widely abused, Hartje said. “Fifty percent of the piracy, we think, uses keys issued to volume licensing customers,” she said.
Volume license keys are registration codes for products that Microsoft gives out to large organizations in plain text. One key can be used to activate and run an unlimited number of copies of the product, for example Windows XP or Office XP.
Starting with Vista, Microsoft will offer two different types of keys and offer three different ways to distribute them within an organization. In all cases, some more work will be required on the part of the technology department at a company.
“They will just need to do a little extra planning,” Hartje said.
The first type of product key to replace the current system is called “multiple activation key,” or MAK. An IT pro at a company can install a key on a machine that will then need to be validated online. Alternatively a proxy can be set up centrally to activate multiple systems at once, according to Microsoft.
The second licensing option is called “key management service,” or KMS. This requires the organization to set up a KMS service on the corporate network that will activate client machines. The Vista PCs will silently find the KMS service and activate, according to Microsoft.
Source: Joris Evers for News.com
